


Place Your Bets

by CrimsonShades



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: But nothing underage, Croupier!Bill, Dipper is a precious nerd baby, Drinking, Flirtatious Croupier, Gambling, How has Bill not gotten fired yet, I can't even vanilla, I made an AU plz help, I've never actually been to Vegas though, M/M, Older!Dipper, One of these AUs that only exist for the sake of Billdipping no less, Or any place casino for that matter, so sorry for inaccuracies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-27
Updated: 2015-07-27
Packaged: 2018-04-11 13:20:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,222
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4436951
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrimsonShades/pseuds/CrimsonShades
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dipper and Mabel hit up Vegas for their 21st birthday and shenanigans ensue when Dipper runs into a particularly flirty croupier.</p><p> </p><p>My brain did this after I listened to <i>Gambling Man</i> by The Overtones one too many times.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Place Your Bets

**Author's Note:**

> _Oh, you could be the Queen of Hearts_   
>  _Or the Devil in Disguise_   
>  _With every move_   
>  _I'm blinded by those diamonds in his eyes._   
>  _I got some bad addiction, baby, it's you._

Outlandish architecture, practically hidden away behind the bright lights of flashing neon signs that were hurtful to the eyes. As Dipper cast his eyes towards the pavement, he felt three people bump into him, at least one of them reeking of fancy cocktails.  
Vegas, baby.  
He pulled the peak of his baseball cap down to shield his eyes and was relieved to feel the familiar tug of his overly excited sister on his arm. Stumbling blindly behind his twin, brushing against only a few more people until they finally entered a building and Dipper dared lower his hand and look around.  
"Where are we?" He asked, gaze wandering across the rows of golden slot machines, each with a black leather seat in front of it, closely followed by the blackjack and roulette tables. Damn, this place looked classy.  
"The _Cipher Casino_!" Mabel laughed.  
"This is the place Grunkle Stan told us about?" Dipper inquired. He just couldn't believe that they would let their great uncle into a place like this. Everything looked so expensive and stylish, it didn't suit him.  
Heck, it didn't suit them, either. Did this place have a bouncer? If so, why did he let them in? Sure, Mabel was wearing an expensive dress that was sprinkled with so much glitter, he could barely stand to look at her for more than thirty seconds, but he was feeling beyond underdressed in his dark suit jacket and jeans, especially when he spotted a few well-dressed waiters, balancing tablets with colorful drinks and slices of fruit on them, maintaining their elegant demeanour as they squeezed themselves through the crowds of excited people near the tables with a playful ease. It was rather easy to tell the employees from the guests, as their attire consisted mostly of the colors yellow and black. In fact they looked like they belonged on a stage rather than between the scenes like this.  
The male waiters wore double-breasted vests over white shirts adorned with a black bow tie and black dress pants, their female counterparts wearing black skirts and kneesocks and each one wearing a bow in their hair instead of a bow tie around their neck. Their shining shoes producing soft clicking noises each time they hit the triangular tilework underneath, the noise reached Dipper's ears just so over the constant mumbling and muttering that filled the large room like a constant buzz.  
He glanced at one of the black marble pillars near the entrance and smiled when he recognized one of the faces on the countless pictures pinned to them. His great uncle's wrinkly face, wearing a deep frown and staring into the camera like a prisoner, which wasn't completely off, considering he was on the pillar that was labeled _Banned from premises._  
When Dipper nudged Mabel and showed her the picture, she chimed a soft giggle.  
"Didn't he say he cracked the jackpot and got on the wall of fame for it?"  
"Maybe he mistook the walls."  
Both of them laughed for a while and for the first time since their arrival, Dipper felt somewhat at ease. They had come to Las Vegas to celebrate their 21st birthday and lose all of the money their family had gifted them for this day, but their friends, whom they were going to meet and who were all coming from the same small town in Oregon, had encountered a problem. Something with the bus. Wendy had texted them, saying they wouldn't be able to make it, but wished the twins a happy birthday nonetheless. While not being able to spend their special day with the people they had been looking forward to see again for months surely dampened their otherwise bright moods, the knowledge that they had each other and hell, this was Vegas, they could definitely have some fun here on their own, kept them from just sitting in their hotel rooms and eying the minibar with suspicious eyes.  
"Well then, Sir Dippingsauce, shall we?" Mabel smiled brightly as she offered her brother an arm, which he gracefully took.  
"Let the games begin."  
♦  
Apparently though, their ideas of games differed gravely.  
Mabel left to trade some money for tokens and when she returned to her brother, only to find him sitting on one of these soft leather clouds of a seat in front of one of the shiny slot machines, she rigorously tore him away from it and pushed him towards the tables.  
"What are you doing?"  
"You're not here to just stare at some stupid screen all day, you're here to play!" She exclaimed. "Go play with some people! Make some new friends until ours arrive!"  
"What? Mabel, I'm not-"  
"C'mon, loosen up! It'll be more fun than just pulling some stupid lever all the time."  
He turned around just in time to pull his sister out of one waitress' way. The woman with the probably fake blond hair scoffed as she passed them.  
"C'mon. I wanna throw some dice."  
When Dipper pointed at the slot machine again, his sister faked a sniffle and batted her eyelashes at him and he knew he was going to play whatever she wanted. "Well, fine," he huffed, "but only because it's your birthday."  
Instead of returning the favor for once, she squealed with delight and dragged him along.  
There really were a lot of people standing at the tables and being sandwiched like that made Dipper feel uncomfortable to the point where he wondered why he ever agreed on coming here in the first place. His hands were sweaty and shaking when it was his turn and he could feel everyone's eyes on him.  
"Hey." The man next to him, slightly older than himself from the looks, nudged him and chuckled softly, a glint of malicious amusement in his light brown eyes when Dipper almost dropped the dice he had just wrapped his fingers around in surprise. "Want me to blow on them for good luck?"  
"No, thanks," _creepy stranger_ , he declared and flashed an assertive grin, "but today's my lucky day. I can feel it."  
The man who made the young adult feel nervous with the way he loomed over him, took his every move in with bright eyes, that small smirk playing on his lips, everything about the man with the golden locks and bronze tan, really, just shrugged his shoulders lightly and chortled into the palm of his hand when the dice slipped Dipper's trembling, sweaty hands and he lost the round and a good lot of his tokens, too.  
Mabel immediately hurried to his side to give him a comforting pat on the shoulder.  
"Well, better luck next time, Pine Tree." The man flicked against Dipper's cap and laughed softly, fingers a-wiggling, as he left for one of the yellow doors in the back of the building and a sturdy, bull necked bald man in a dark suit who was impatiently tapping his wrist watch.  
Out of the corner of his eye, Dipper could see his sister take in a breath to shout some unpleasantry at the man who dared mock her brother, but then choose to swallow it and watch him go with wide puppy eyes.  
"He's kinda hot." She whispered to him.  
"God damn it, Mabel, not again." Dipper growled under his breath and she laughed and punched his arm.  
"I'm kidding, Dip-Dop! Besides, he was clearly into you."  
He felt a slight blush flare up on his cheeks and hurried to adjust his hat and jacket, giving his now hurting arm a light rub. "Listen, if we could go just one trip somewhere _without_ you trying to hook me up, that'd be great."  
"No promises." She beamed. "Besides, y'know what they say, what happens in Vegas-"  
"Except for STDs, children and weddings, so please be careful." He interrupted, "Those things are legally binding."  
Mabel rolled her eyes. "Lighten up, dude. It's your birthday, try'n have some fun! Yoink!" With another wide smile, she swiped his hat and slipped it into her purse that was equally headache-inducing as her dress. "I told you to leave this thing in your room."  
"Hey! It's a lucky charm!"  
"Yeah, it really isn't. That's why I'm taking it off your hands. You'll thank me for my tremendous sacrifice later."  
"What about your own luck?" Dipper quirked an eyebrow, decided to play along, but his sister simply waved it off.  
"Mabel's got enough luck for two and this here hat ain't gonna change a thing 'bout that! Now go, youngling, go and play! Carry on, my wayward son! Play nice and fair, have some fun and try not to lose your shirt! Not literally though!"  
Now it was his turn to roll his eyes, especially when she scurried off and he quickly lost her in the crowd. So much for staying together. She had probably spotted someone she deemed worth pursuing though, so he wasn't particularly worried. This happened too often to be considered an exception and besides, he could always call her, should things take a turn for the bad.  
With a long sigh drawling from his throat, the young adult took a seat on a poker table, this time betting a lot more carefully and turning down every drink he was offered, just so he could keep his mental faculties up and running in an attempt to figure this out. The late night poker rounds with his sister and great uncle came back to his mind and the pain of the loss stung even more now, that he was losing more tokens and not just cornflakes they had used because Waddles would otherwise chew on dollar bills.  
"Not much of a winning hand, have you?"  
Dipper jumped, because he hadn't even noticed the man leaning against his chair and the sensation of hot breath on the back of his neck caused his cheeks to redden even more.  
"Though I'm sure you could put them to good use otherwise." Another soft, yet clearly mischievous laugh, paired with that obvious suggestion in the man's voices, had Dipper wish the weird stranger with the sparking eyes would just scram and annoy someone else. His apparently oh-so-useful hands were trembling again when he scooped up his remaining tokens.  
"Anyhoo, kid," Dipper felt the man straighten himself and move away from him, before he saw him jerking his thumb from the corner of his eyes, refusing to directly look at the guy, "I'm 'bout to open the roulette table over there, how's about you give that a try and see if you can get Lady Luck's attention at all tonight?"  
"Wait, you're working here?" Dipper sounded a lot more surprised than he should, after all, there was no law that kept ridiculously attractive strangers from working in casinos. Quite the contrary, actually.  
"Sure do! My shift's just begun and I tend to play for a bit when I'm early."  
He finally took the time to inspect the man with the bright smile. He wore the same golden, twin-tailed jacket with the brick pattern embroided in gold at the tails as the croupier at the table who was expectantly watching Dipper. The young adult's brown eyes briefly stopped at the small, golden pin, shaped like a triangle with an eye in the middle, which, judging from its appearance on every table and the side of every slot machine, was the casino's very own insignia. _Bill_ was engraved on its bottom side, so Dipper supposed it served as a name tag for the employees - something he had been too busy to pay attention to before now.  
_Bill_ gave his coworker a brief nod before flashing another bright smile at Dipper. "Last chance, buddy."  
Although something about the man made him feel flustered and clumsy, a brief glance at the steadily shrinking amount of tokens in his possession and the promising outlook of a new challenge persuaded the young adult to nod his head and follow croupier, whose smile was now more than pleased.  
"Did you know that the sum of all numbers on a roulette wheel is 666, the number of the beast?" Bill chuckled. "Let's hope you don't have to make a deal with the devil to get some of your money back though. Hey, where'd you put your hat? Don't tell me you lost it already."  
"Uh, no, my sister took it." Dipper replied softly as the sociophobic voice in the back of his head began to nag about why that weird guy wouldn't just leave him alone. _He's working here. He's just trying to make me feel comfortable, so I play more. And lose more._ he tried to calm it.  
"Shame, I liked it. Looked good on you, too."  
With his cheeks heating up yet again and the voice now nagging at Dipper for acting like a lovestruck teen, the young adult obediently followed the croupier, who positioned him right next to himself at the table with a few more people, two senior citizens and a young couple who was reeking of alcohol and had their arms hooked, to reveal their shiny wedding rings that didn't even match.  
While he decided not to comment on it, a quick glance at the croupier and the wide smile he was wearing told him that the man, whose brown eyes almost looked gold this close up, had noticed it as well and, from the looks of it, found it nothing but amusing.  
"Well, then ladies and gentlemen," Bill and another croupier, who was standing nearby and keeping a keen eye on the table, exchanged a quick look, a wink the blonde's part, even, before he continued in a sing-song voice: "This table is now open. Name's Bill and Tad and we're more than ready to take your bets! If you'd place them now!"  
Chewing on his lip and tapping his chin in thought, convinced that his neighbors could hear the gears in his head running, as he tried to both listen to his gut and his head and figure out which bet would be the safest, Dipper's glance rose from the wheel and locked on his sister, whom he suddenly spotted in the crowd and who was swaying and clinging to a pasty man, a few years older than herself and from the looks of it, definitely her type. She noticed him as well, waved and smiled brightly before mouthing something, as all words would be lost over the general background noise in the casino, which was either "Loosen up" or "Musso's fab" and judging from how the man whose neck her arms were wrapped around then pressed his lips against hers, he was definitely not fabulous, so she was probably trying to tell him to have fun.  
Dipper furrowed his eyebrows. He had made up his mind.  
Coincidentally, the blond waitress his sister had almost run over, just passed him by. "Hey!" He exclaimed, maybe a little too loud and she turned around and gave him a bright smile.  
"I'll have an, um-" There went his determination. He had never drunk before, how the heck was he supposed to know what to take?  
Her scarlet lips curved into a waiting smile and the young adult wished for a hole to open up beneath him and swallow him whole. Vegas had been a terrible idea.  
"I'd recommend the margaritas here." Bill half-whispered to him and he jerked.  
"Margarita! I'll have a margarita!" Dipper then repeated, the again rising excitement making his voice way too loud again. The waitress shot Bill a brief glance before shrugging her shoulders.  
"Alright. Just a minute."  
"Well then, Pine Tree, place your bet." Bill then said, his voice raised and the tone in it suggesting that he'd asked Dipper before.  
"Uh. Z-Zero game?" The feeling of insecurity, a slight sting of panic, even, straight up hit him again.  
"Zero game!" Bill announced the bet with a bright smile and wrapped his arm around Dipper's waist, the table shielding the action from any of the other player's eyes. Dipper's face heated up again, but he was too worried to bump into anyone else, he didn't back away and when the croupier poked Dipper's side four times the young adult promptly slid four tokens over. They were pitch-black and each one of them had a yellow triangle on it as well. The eyes on them seemed to watch him. Judge him. Mock his bad choice.  
"Here's your drink, sir." The green cocktail being placed right in front of him snapped Dipper out of it and he barely noticed the arm that had left his waist as soon as the waitress approached. He nodded at her, but was already headed elsewhere, so he took a deep breath and a big sip from the drink.  
It didn't taste half bad.  
_Have fun,_ he reminded himself. _Loosen up._  
♣  
The odds were stacked against him and they were stacked to the sky. Besides that, first time drinking, excitement and an empty stomach were a terrible combination. The tokens flew through his hands and with each one he lost, his nervousness grew, forcing Dipper to take another sip from his cocktail, which in turn only made the fuzzy feeling in his head grow stronger. Due to the lack of clocks on the black marble walls, he had no idea what time it was, but his eyes were burning from lack of sleep and the nagging voice inside his head had started to resemble Tyler, with its constant screaming _Get 'im, get 'im!_ , which only grew louder, each time he looked at Bill. And each time he did, the croupier caught his gaze and smiled in return, encouraging Dipper's heart to attempt a little tap dance routine. Most of the seniors he used to play with and lose to had left by now and been replaced by new faces, blurred by the alcohol he continuously kept pouring into his system. When the clearly adultering couple used the time the ball took to decide on a number to make out, the young adult turned toward the croupier, whose eyes were currently fixed on the spinning wheel.  
He was starting to wonder how he ever managed to take his eyes off this handsome devil in the first place.  
"Aw, looks like Luck's not a lady in here tonight. 'Least not for you. More like Miss Fortune in your case." Bill turned to Dipper, earning a few laughs for his comment.  
Not the first remark he'd made on the boy's persistent losing streak.  
"Man, Bill, you really have it in for the kid tonight, eh?" The other croupier, Tad, was it, laughed.  
"Hey, not my fault he broke a mirror or angered a witch! But hey, just look at his face, I bet he's analyzing all of this and is just a few more thought processes away from figuring out a way to beat the bank." Dipper hardly registered the croupier poking his cheeks that were flushed for numerous reasons, but shivered at the soft laugh that escaped the man's throat.  
Tad's eyebrows furrowed at the comment, or maybe his colleague's obvious flirting with a customer, Dipper didn't even notice. His eyes were glued to Bill's lips, which looked absolutely ravishing when they moved and he really wished for them to be moving against _him_.  
"Y-You and me," he stuttered and bumped against the croupier. "R-right here, just you an... and me and this table." He raised his arms to wrap them around the man, who in turn gave him a smug look. The soft chuckling from the other patrons didn't even make it to Dipper's mind.  
A soft chuckle escaped the bronze lips, sounding clearly flattered, before Bill's eyes flickered towards Tad and he gently put a hand on Dipper's shoulders to keep him at bay. "You look like you've had enough for now. Why don't you call it a night and hit the hay?"  
"O-Only if you" _come with me_ , Dipper wanted to say, but the croupier cut him short by pleasantly curling an arm around his neck, the sensation of which sent shivers down the young man's spine and made him docile enough to enable Bill to escort him towards the exit with no resistance.  
"I'll be right back, very sorry for the delay." Dipper heard him say, but the meaning of the words didn't reach him. He meekly followed the man, he would have followed him everywhere and probably let him do about anything in his drunken stupor, too.  
A displeased hum resounded from Bill when they reached the large glass doors that marked both the exit of and the entrance to the casino.  
"Y'think you can make it to your hotel or do I need to get someone to get you there?"  
"Why don't you?" Dipper drawled out, his drunk mind determined to bed that croupier.  
"You had a sister, right? Where's she at?" Bill glanced around and only now did Dipper notice how much he was actually leaning on the supportive arm around his neck.  
"Probably with some guy." He managed.  
"Wow, the two a' you are really hitting the Vegas-jackpot here tonight, ain'tcha? Try not to get married though." With another soft laugh, the man ruffled through Dipper's brown curls, making the boy melt against the touch. "And don't be mad about losing all of these rounds, Pine Tree. You know what they say," was that a wink or was it the alcohol, "unlucky in cards, lucky in love. I'm sure roulette tables count, too, though. Ah, just try not to rob the bank, the boss isn't necessarily fond of that." The croupier's eyes flickered towards the pillar that Grunkle Stan's picture was attached to.  
"Lucky in love?" Dipper repeated drowsily, his tongue having trouble forming the words.  
"So they say!" The man chirped. "Anyway, you're a bright light, kiddo. I'm headin' back to my table-" Bill was cut off when Dipper experimentally pressed his lips against the blond man's. The kiss was sloppy, because of the drunken numbness on the boy's part and the complete lack of reaction on Bill's.  
"Dipper!"  
That only served to make matters worse. Mabel wobbled towards her brother and hugged him, presumably to congratulate him for hooking up with a hottie, which Bill promptly used to pull away and flash a bright smile at the twins while he adjusted his bow tie. "Oh, good, I was just looking for you. Take your brother home, will you?"  
Dipper wanted to protest, but Mabel giggled. "Okey-dokey!" She promised, the croupier nodded and walked away, something Dipper wanted to protest against as well, but a sudden pressure rising in his stomach had him keep his mouth shut tightly.  
The floor looked really expensive, after all.  
♠  
Dipper felt like surfacing from a sea of tar that was warm and sticking to his every body part. Pain shot through his entire system, before dying down to a soft throbbing that steadily remained in the back of his head, ready to pounce and claw his eyes out at any loud noises or bright lights.  
A moan slipped his lips and he felt a flood of relief when there was no naked body huddled close to his - although the same observation also filled him with regret.  
He flopped from the bed and somehow made it into the shower, despite the pins and needles in his legs and the buzzing in his fingers leaving them practically numb.  
Just when he had peeled some fresh clothes from his suitcase, did a faint knock at the door remind him of just how sensitive to noises he should be today.  
On the bright side, Mabel looked just as undead as he felt when he opened the door.  
"G'morning, Dip Dop." She attempted a smile.  
"Do you remember what happened?" He steered clear of any small talk.  
"Well, we were at the casino and you were smooching a hot guy, but he told us to go back to our room and," she craned her neck to peek into the thankfully darkened room, "I really thought he'd be here. Did he leave already?"  
"He was never here." Dipper replied, his voice a lot more calm than he felt.  
"Ow, sorry to hear that. Anyway, I dragged your drunk ass back here while you kept asking me about Musso - was that his name, cause I'm pretty sure the name tag said Bill."  
A realization dawned on him, but he decided not to talk to her about it.  
"We should get something to eat before our friends arrive." He determined instead.  
Minutes later, after taking a sip from his fresh, hot coffee and watching an aspirin dissolve in a glass of water, Dipper felt somewhat presentable again. Mabel, who was sitting right next to him and chewing on a croissant, wore a pair of large sunglasses that covered half of her face and were supposed to protect her overly sensitive eyes from the light of the sound that pierced the hungover twins' eyeballs like searing hot sewing needles.  
"I remember most of last night, but I think I got some gaps, too." She finally confessed. Dipper wordlessly flicked a headache remedy into her glass of water and nodded his head. She broke off a piece from her croissant and gave it to him in return.  
"I think I remember what I did, but most of it is really blurry." He absently combed his fingers through his hair, before turning to look at Mabel again. "Do you still have my hat?"  
"Nah, I bet that and lost it."  
"Mabel!" He screeched, louder than intended, and drew a groan from them both.  
"I'm kidding, I'm kidding, I got it right here." She pulled it out of her purse and put it on his head. "You really can't go a day without the thing?"  
"It's my lucky charm. I lost everything I had because you took it." He insisted, despite knowing that he was talking nonsense. Those games were probably rigged, anyway. And filling himself with alcohol until any bottle at the bar would pale in jealousy wouldn't exactly improve his performance.  
"Well, it didn't exactly bring me any luck." Mabel gave a dismissive shrug. "Not in love, anyway. I did win some of my games though. But no fortune. Well, better luck next time!" She pulled her phone out and glanced at it.  
Dipper's thoughts trailed off, back to the moment when Bill complimented on his hat. One of the few moments of the night that weren't foggy and dulled in his memory.  
That guy.  
Sure, he was definitely the reason the night went to hell, but... It's not like Dipper hadn't had fun dreaming about that guy. To think that he ruined it by acting the way he did made him sick.  
"...which probably sounds like a good idea, Dipper, are you in there?" The sound of his name snapped him out of his thoughts.  
"Sorry, what?"  
"Wendy texted me. They found a hotel and are gonna meet us here in a half an hour. You think you can hold out until then?"  
"Sure, no problem." He smiled, but his fingers nervously drumming against the table gave him away. Mabel squinted at him.  
"Alright, who is it? Don't tell me it's the blonde croupier again."  
"It's just-"  
"Don't worry, bro-bro, I can totally see where you're coming from! But trust me, guys like that don't appreciate it when you suddenly make out with them all thirsty-like. I'm sure we can find you an even handsomer guy though." She gave his side a playful nudge and smiled sympathetically. It dropped when Dipper stood up.  
"No. I'm sorry, Mabel, I'll get back to you in a minute, but I gotta find that guy and apologize to him first."  
"Dipper, it's not a problem. I'm sure he's used to being hit on by horny drunks."  
"Well, I'm not like that!" Dipper's cheeks flushed and turned even redder when he realized that everyone in the small cafe they had retreated to - one of the few places that wasn't all flashy lights and loud music in the city that never sleeps - was looking at him. "Sorry." He added in a softer voice, turned around and left the room. He did notice his sister giving him a stern, yet approving nod.  
♥  
The Cipher Casino was a large building, shape resembling a pyramid. The facade was golden and the building, completely lacking any flashing lights, loud rings and buzzed looked a lot more serene than its neighbors that tried desperately to gain people's attention by offering sensory overstimulation. The casino's name was written in large, plain letters above the glass doors in all caps. Right in front of the casino was a fountain, lights embedded in the nozzle made the water appear to be liquid gold.  
As he extended his hand towards the handles of the door, he realized they had eyes on them.  
Whoever had designed that casino had to be some sort of creep.  
The Casino area was a lot less busy than he remembered it being and the faces of the employees were entirely unfamiliar sight to his tired eyes. The setting of the light hadn't changed at all however, but Dipper remembered that this was very much intention, so people wouldn't notice just how much of their precious time they were gambling away. He stumbled through the premises and stared at every croupier he passed by, but none of them was the one he was looking for. He recognized some of the seniors at one of the busier roulette tables, but the croupier serving them was another. No trace of Tad, either. The only person he recognized was the bald man in the dark suit who guarded the doors in the back labeled _Personnel only_ and from the look on his face, he was not someone Dipper wanted to be noticed by.  
So he took a seat in front of the slot machines and, remembering that he didn't have any money, just stared at the screen.  
Sure, the twins weren't broke, since Mabel had won some money and besides, Dipper had designated each of them set amounts they could spend each day, to assure they wouldn't end up, well, shirtless on their second day of gambling. He had simply forgotten to pack his designated gambling money for the second day of the trip.  
Instead, he pondered on how to approach Bill after that disastrous turn of events. Had he had his notebook on him, he surely would have made a list. Old habits die hard.  
But the points of his mental list kept slipping him and when the waiter began sending him warning glares each time they passed him by, very much noticing his idleness, he left the stuffy air of the casino and sat next to the fountain. He had no idea what time it was, where Bill was, when he would appear and, if he did, how to approach him. Dipper had nothing and it felt terrible.  
Maybe Mabel was right. Maybe he should just let it go and let this be nothing more than an awkward memory of his first and hopefully only trip to Vegas. Fade away and remain nothing but yet another thirsty drunk in Bill's mind as well.  
He sighed.  
It was hard to spot the sun behind the tall buildings and he was kinda scared of looking at his phone and the probably five million and three unread messages from their worried friends - mostly Mabel's friends, admittedly-, so he had no idea what time it was.  
He decided to just sit there, as Bill would definitely have to go past him if he wanted to enter the casino - unless there was a secret rear entrance, in which case, he would sit here until his sister came to pick him up. His legs had fallen asleep from sitting and he could feel the throbbing in his head loll and position itself to strike him down with more force than before.  
It was starting to get colder and chills crept down his spine. People walking by hardly took notice of him, which was a good thing, because the last thing he needed was to be mistaken for some kind of hobo.  
Dipper wrapped the jacket more tightly around himself and sighed. Sitting with his head lowered like he was, it almost looked like he was bowing to the pyramid.  
Suddenly, he felt something warm snake around him and when he turned around, expecting to see his sister's worried face, he almost jumped and fell into the now golden glowing water.  
"Still haven't cracked the system? No need to be so glum about it! I've seen people fail before." The tone in Bill's voice suggested that he had also enjoyed that quite a bit but for now, the man was just sitting flush next to Dipper, legs crossed, wearing a wide smile and a yellow sweater and that enough was alone to leave the young adult at a loss for words, with his heart kickboxing away at his ribs, as if it sought to break free and leave forever.  
"Hey, you got your hat back!" The croupier flicked against the peak and Dipper hastily adjusted the cap. He took a deep breath, suddenly remembering all of the things he had wanted to say, but when they all fused and merged together into an unintelligible mash of words, he closed his mouth again and tried not to think about what a supersized fool he was currently making of himself.  
As if he knew what was going on inside the boy, Bill simply smiled, knowing yet expectantly and Dipper felt his face his every shade on the red side of the color spectrum.  
"I, I did. I also got to my room safely and, um," Dipper cleared his throat, forcing himself not to look to intently at the amused smile on the other, "I wanted to thank you for that." Something in the smile twitched and the young adult heavy-heartedly decided to scoot away from the man he tried not to embarrass himself in front of. "Also, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to ...to kiss you like that. That was the alcohol not me and-" When the man pursing his lips popped into his peripherals, Dipper felt his voice hitch and forced himself to stop talking.  
"And you've come all this way and waited out here for so long just to tell me that?"  
"Yes, I did and my head is killing me, so I, I think I better get going now." Dipper wanted to stand up, but the croupier effortlessly pulled him back down and close to his body. Dipper felt the croupier's warmth leech through his jacket and gave him a confused look. He felt like a mouse in front of the snake, seconds away from being eaten whole. The look on the man's face sure was predatory.  
"Hungover, eh? I know a great cure for that, actually."  
"S-So?" Dipper swallowed harshly. The suggestion in the man's voice was oppressively obvious. He felt his heart constrict when slender digits tilted his chin up and he found himself staring helplessly into these amber eyes.  
"It's pretty effective, if I do say so myself. And I have a feeling you're gonna like it." Bill's lips curved into a smirk that _did things_ to Dipper's insides before they captured the young adult's lips. He returned the kiss, a lot needier than he meant to, but when it turned into teeth and grins on Bill's part, he decided to slide his tongue across the rows of exposed teeth, gaining a hum, two arms around his waist and the feeling of being crushed against the croupier's chest. Dipper tilted his head lightly and failed to stifle a moan when teeth parted and Bill's tongue slid inside of his mouth.  
Dipper slowly managed to return the kiss with a passion rather than raw need, his hands now resting on Bill's upper arms, holding the man in place much rather than clawing and desperately trying to chain him down to prevent this moment from ever going away and he couldn't help but feel sheepishly proud of that achievement.  
The croupier was right, the pain in Dipper's head and limbs had vanished. Instead, the young adult's mind felt completely blank. He was unable to formulate a straight thought, as every fiber of his being was focused on the sensation of the man, who was steadily deepening the kiss to a point when Dipper realized that his pants were growing constrictingly tight and this was a public place, still.  
Dipper yelped softly when Bill's lips left his and moved to his ear instead. Breath carressed his face when the man chuckled. "My apartment's right around the corner."  
"Sounds good." Dipper managed, voice weak as he was still completely out of breath. A soft kiss was planted to his jaw.  
"Let's see how good your hand is in strip poker, shall we? Loser gets to take the winner's clothes off with his teeth." The voice grew softer until each word was whispered right into Dipper's jaw and he shuddered happily against the croupier's warm body before pulling the man away to face him and flash a triumphant grin.  
Sure, he might be unlucky in cards, but he managed to hit the jackpot nonetheless.  
"Don't underestimate my bad luck streak."

**Author's Note:**

> _My odds are stacked._   
>  _I've never been a gambling man,_   
>  _I've never had the winning hand,_   
>  _But for you I'd lose it all._   
>  _Baby, I'd lose it all._


End file.
